


To hold your hand

by astraeanyx



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Love, M/M, Rare Pairings, Strangers to Friends, Training Camp, hq rare pair, pretty akaashi is pretty, sakusa is kind of a disaster, sakusa isn't a complete asshole, third year akaashi and sakusa who are also captains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24326170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraeanyx/pseuds/astraeanyx
Summary: Where Akaashi's hands are the only ones Sakusa would not mind holding.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Sakusa Kyoomi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 136





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> more tags and chapters to come!! i hope you enjoy <3

The first time Sakusa sees Akaashi is at a practice match.

The sounds of shoes sliding, echoes of team members calling out to each other and the vibrations of strong hands striking volleyballs fill the room. 

Sakusa sits on the bench panting, just having finished a game against one of the other teams. His eyes scan the room, trying to size up his next opponents. 

His attention is grabbed by a boy, around the same height as him, he assumes. But the similarities end there. The other appears to be loud, overly energetic and seems to have absolutely no regard for anyone's personal space. He scrunches his face in disapproval.

He has wild eyes shine a blazing golden. The big smile on his face only seemed to brighten them up even more. His hands are in the air, as another member slaps their palms against his in celebration. _Ugh,_ he shudders, shoving the thought of sticky, sweaty palms slapping each other, out of his mind. 

Just as he's about to look away, the noisy, silver haired boy steps back. Then he sees _him_.

This boy is a little shorter, leaner and a lot more composed. Was he standing there this entire time? Although he has sharp features, his face remains stoic. He has a mess of black hair, perspiration dripping from them. He raises his hand, using the back of his wrist to wipe away the beads of sweat on his forehead. Usually Sakusa would make a face at the thought like he had earlier, but for some reason this doesn’t bother him as much. 

He forces himself to look away from the boy when he sees the whole team walking away from the court, to the benches. Sakusa shrinks, silently hoping that they do not sit next to him. They settle at the bench next to him, a few feet away. Before he can stop himself again, his eyes flit over to the serious boy again. He watches him grab his water bottle with long and slender fingers.

Just as the mouth of the bottle touches his own, deep blue irises dart over to his direction. _Fuck_ he curses whipping his head away. He should have been more subtle, the other boy must have definitely felt Sakusa’s gaze on him.

The sudden movement due to the panic of getting caught must have seriously startled him because as soon as Sakusa turns away, he feels his throat close in on itself and the next thing he realises is that he cannot breathe. He bursts into a violent fit of coughs. He doubles over, coughing into his elbow as he struggles to gasp for air. 

“Are you okay?” 

He hears a cool voice laced with appropriate concern. He looks up to see the same pair of gunmetal eyes staring into his own. He doesn’t even notice that his own coughing has seized. 

“Here,” the boy offers his own water bottle to Sakusa.

His eyes widen in horror as he blurts out, “Gross, no way!” 

The minute the words leave Sakusa he regrets it. He has gotten so used to saying it to the rest of his team that it has just become a habit now. But it’s too late, the boy standing obviously saw the twisted expression of repulsion on Sakusa’s face. He raises one of his thick eyebrows in confusion. Neither of them say anything. 

After a few seconds, he walks away without saying another word. Even though he hadn’t shown it, he knew the other was offended, like anyone would be. _Fuuuuck,_ he sighs out, burying his face in his hands. 

-x-

Today is their last day for their practice matches.

Sakusa doesn’t usually feel guilty about telling people off when they try to get unnecessarily close to him. But the scenario that took place the previous day refuses to stop playing out in his head. He winces everytime he hears himself say those three words, his _first_ words to that boy. 

People might think Sakusa was cold but he wasn’t an asshole, definitely not to people who didn’t deserve it especially. And _he_ definitely did not. He wasn’t obnoxious or nosy. He was offering help, if anything. How was he supposed to know that Sakusa wasn’t comfortable with sharing a water bottle.

When he arrives at the gym, the first thing he notices are the greenish-blue jerseys. “HEY HEY HEY!” he hears a voice boom throughout the gym. He had heard that voice before. When he takes a better look at them, he realises. 

Fukurodani. 

That’s who they were playing against today. 

Sure enough, the one standing right next to the ace, wearing the jersey with the number 5 on it, stands the black haired boy who Sakusa called gross. He glances at Sakusa, something about the way he looks at him, makes Sakusa believe that he hasn’t forgotten him. But then, he looks away immediately after, almost as if he was… _embarrassed?_

_Oh no._

The guilt sets in deeper.

He tries his best to get his head into the game. Sakusa couldn’t be more grateful for the mask over his mouth at that moment. It wouldn’t have been the best strategy to intimidate your rivals when you’re hopelessly chewing on your lips, now was it?

He hears that loud voice shout something out again. _Akaashi._ The raven looks towards the source of the sound and answers with a curt nod of his head. That was his name.  
_Akaashi._

For the second time in less than five minutes, Sakusa is grateful for his mask because watching him mumbling _Akaashi’s_ name over and over again was not something that would add to his ‘cool ace score’.

 _It’s not a bad name, though_ he thinks. He likes the way 

Everything else aside, when it came to a game Sakusa never faltered. He prided himself on being focused and always played with all his wits about him. He blocks, spikes and receives the way he is supposed to: with all his might. He is the ace, after all.

He observes the team on the other side of the net and he observes Akaashi. He’s the setter for the team and a damn good one at it. He could read and communicate with his team with mere glances, all he had to do was look at them. Sakusa could tell they depended on the setter greatly.

He also doesn’t miss the subtle looks Akaashi throws at him. Akaashi seemed to have the deepest set of blue eyes Sakusa had ever seen. _Were they even blue? To Sakusa it felt like everytime he caught a glimpse of the setter, his eyes shone a different hue. He wondered if they changed color often like that. Sakusa has to look away everytime their eyes meet. Not only because he feels guilty but also because he has a feeling that he wasn’t going to be able to look away once they did lock eyes. But he would never admit that to himself. He doesn’t quite understand the pull he has towards his recent opponent but he doesn’t fight it either. Maybe he was just being curious._

The game ends with Fukurodani beating them. Akaashi has a glint in his eyes now, clearly satisfied. Sakusa could swear that for just a second, he saw the setter smirk. He wonders what he would look like when he smiled or giggled. That was the next thing that gets subconsciously added to the things he wants to know about the mysterious vice. 

-x- 

Sakusa sits on the bench outside the school campus, obviously earlier than everyone else because he wanted to be the first to hit the showers before the rest of the crowd decided to. He waits for the rest of the team to get there for them to board their bus. He scrolls through his phone idly, slowly running out of patience. 

He hears footsteps approaching. _Took Komori long enough._

He is about to stand up and give his teammate an earful, when he notices that the person he currently faces isn’t his libero after all. The person he is currently looking at wears a dark blue shirt, the color almost matching his eyes. 

_Akaashi._

He is carrying a box in his hands, his face as emotionless as ever. He looks at Sakusa at the exact time as Sakusa does him. His eyebrows slightly furrow but he averts his eyes from the ace almost immediately and continues to walk on, as if Sakusa wasn’t there at all. He clearly has no intention to acknowledge him. He quickens his pace walking past the curly haired male, towards the school gym. 

Words refuse to leave Sakusa. The urge to stop the other fills Sakusa, he should probably say something but _what?_

“Stop, please!” he calls out. 

Akaashi does. He turns around, quietly waiting to see what the taller boy had to say.  
“I just wanted to apologize for yesterday,” Sakusa says, voice low.  
There is a pause.  
“Because you called me gross?” Akaashi asks, voice flat. There isn’t any venom in his words but it still makes Sakusa cringe.  
“Yeah.. I shouldn’t have said that, it was uncalled for,” he mumbles, looking away unable to meet the other’s piercing eyes. 

Akaashi exhales, “You don’t like being around people, do you?”  
Sakusa’s head turns to Akaashi, eyes slowly widening. An expression of understanding takes over Akaashi’s nonchalant face. Sakusa nods slowly, somewhat suspicious. 

“You also don’t enjoy shaking hands or making physical contact with strangers either, do you Sakusa-san?” How did he know all that _and_ his name. Looking at the taller boy’s face, Akaashi knows he has guessed right.  
“I noticed yesterday after our game ended.” That’s how.  
“I understand. I accept your apology, Sakusa-san.,” Akaashi continues, a small smile playing on his lips.  
_Pretty._  
Sakusa blinks.  
What.  
Why was that the first thought to enter his mind? Did he say that out loud? 

The same look of concern as yesterday comes over Akaashi’s face, “Are you okay, Sakusa-san?”  
He hadn’t said it out loud. _Phew._  
“What? Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry..again.”  
His eyes move to the brown box in Akaashi’s hands, without second thought he blurts out, “Do you need a hand with the box?”  
_Shit._  
_Why did he have to offer_ , who knew how many people had touched that box.  
“No, but thank you for offering. It’s just this one.”  
_Thank God,_ he breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you for the game today,” Akaashi adjusts the angle of his hands on the box.  
“See you around, Sakusa-san.” He says and walks away. 

Sakusa was right. They did change color. In the sunset, his eyes shone a gorgeous shade of emerald. Sakusa wonders how many other colors they can change into. 


	2. Chapter 2

Seasons change, the chilly winter nights slowly turn into pleasant spring mornings. The Tokyo nationals come to an end, marking the end of the third years’ journey with their high school. 

Akaashi bids goodbye to his former teammates, it is going to be a little difficult to get used to, without the constant noise and chaos but he will adapt. He has to. They all promise to keep in touch no matter how busy life gets and Akaashi plans on keeping that promise. 

This year was going to be different, for better or for worse Akaashi isn’t sure.

-

“Akaashi-san,” a feminine voice calls out. He turns around to see a girl, holding a notebook in her hands. She has messy brown hair that comes down to her shoulders, brown eyes that are kind but also focused and ambitious. Fukurodani’s new manager is a first year student who joined a few weeks ago. Akaashi walks over to where she stands. Both of them are still adjusting to their new positions as captain and manager, respectively. 

“I know it’s still early but I was thinking about arranging a few practice matches for the team, would that be okay?”

Akaashi is impressed at how much she has picked up in such a short time, “Yes, I think that would help us a lot, actually.” 

“I have already contacted Nekoma High and Shinzen High, Ubugawa’s manager said they wouldn’t be able to make it this time so I was thinking if we could contact another school.”

“What about Karasuno?”

“That would be a little difficult since we would be inviting them at such short notice. It would be better if they were closer.”

“What about Itachiyama Academy? We practised with them last time.”

“Oh yeah, they would be perfect. I’ll check with them, thank you Akaashi-san.”

-x-

Training with Bokuto for years ended up affecting Akaashi’s schedule too, the ace had liked practicing at night and would often beg Akaashi to stay back and help him. Akaashi could have said no but Bokuto had needed someone to drag him away after a few hours or he’d stay there until dawn. And no one was thrilled to deal with a sleep deprived Bokuto.

After a while Akaashi had started to appreciate those sessions too. Sleep always came later than normal to Akaashi; in fact, he feels more active after the sun has set. He figured that, tiring himself out this way would actually help him rather than him tossing and turning restlessly in his bed.The night always helped calm him.

This evening is no different, he enters the gymnasium for his nightly routine. He keeps his belongings in a corner and makes his way to the center of the room to do his stretches before starting off. 

“This room’s occupied, sorry,” a voice echoes from behind him. It’s one of the corners in the gym, shielded away to anyone who might enter through the door that Akaashi just did.

Akaashi turns around and the first thing he notices are the two spots on the other’s forehead, right above his right eye. They looked familiar. He starts to recognize the locks of wavy hair that make their way down to his eyes, the sour expression that never seems to leave his face. 

Sakusa Kiyoomi. 

Akaashi assumes that the other boy recognizes him too when Sakusa momentarily freezes and his frown fades a little. Sakusa wears a dull yellow shirt along with some shorts that match. He looks a little different than he did a year ago. Has he grown taller? His hair has definitely gotten longer and whatever training routine he was following was _clearly_ working for him. The definition in his arms and legs was hard to ignore. He looks bigger now, stronger.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think anyone would be in here at this time. I can leave,” Akaashi apologizes. 

Akaashi expects the other to simply nod and look away, since he made it pretty obvious that he didn’t want anyone else around. 

“No, that’s fine. You can practice on the other side of the court if you still wish to. I don’t mind.” 

He hadn’t expected that. Akaashi nods, wondering what made him the exception but doesn’t question it. This has always been his favored room to practice in, it’s not only the biggest but also just smells better. Akaashi silently walks to the other side of the court. 

As he warms up, he starts to feel self conscious. It isn’t that he is uncomfortable, only a little more aware of himself than he usually is. Before he entered the gym, he fully intended to be by himself but he should have known better, he thinks. After all, a training camp was in session. He tells himself to ignore the voice in his head, he is still free to enjoy his own company. He exhales, this wasn’t the first time that he had practiced or shared a room with someone else before and this wasn’t going to be any different. 

Forty minutes later, Akaashi rests his hands on his knees as he pants. Deciding to take a break, he walks over to where he had left his water bottle and sits on the wooden floor, trying to keep his eyes away from the spiker, who is now in front of him.

Akaashi wipes away the sweat that drips down his face with the towel he had brought. He can hear the dribbling of the ball in front of him, his eyes inevitably end up landing on Sakusa. All he can see from this angle is Sakusa’s broad back as he faces the net in front of them. Akaashi watches as the ace, now captain too, strikes the ball with such sheer force that for a moment it looks like the sphere has deflated mid-air. 

It’s been a while since Akaashi has set to someone who held that much control over their strength. Akaashi thinks highly of his team’s abilities but being able to break past blocks no matter what, was a skill that took quite a long time to hone.

He watches closely for a few more rounds as Sakusa practises his serves. _How on earth did he move his wrists like that?_

Sakusa finally stops and for a moment Akaashi thinks that he had voiced out his thoughts. Sakusa’s hands rest on his hips as he breathes heavily. Akaashi looks away and diverts his attention to his phone. Now that the sounds of the ball bouncing off the floor have come to a halt, they are replaced by the sounds of footsteps approaching. Akaashi pretends to be too engrossed in the device in his palm to have noticed. 

“Would you mind tossing to me for a while?” Sakasa asks above him.

Akaashi raises his eyes to watch the other raven standing right in front of him but still at a respectful distance. Akaashi himself would have offered the same earlier, since the other boy had been practising his already perfect serves for an hour now. But he decided against it, thinking that he might be overstepping his boundaries. 

Akaashi stands up, “Sure.” 

-

Practicing together did not feel as awkward as Akaashi thought it would be. They keep at it for what feels like a productive amount of time until they finally decide to stop.

“Thank you for helping me out,” Sakusa nods a little too formally.

“Good work,” Akaashi responds.

Perhaps it was getting a little awkward now. Without saying much else, Akaashi walks back to where he had left his phone earlier, collecting all his other belongings and getting ready to leave. In his peripheral view, he sees Sakusa do the same. Once Akaashi is done, he turns to find Sakusa searching for something, the frown reappearing on his forehead. _Had he lost something?_

“Is everything okay?” Akaashi asks.

“Yeah, just can’t find my water bottle. I think I may have forgotten to bring it along,” Sakusa answers as he continues to search for the bottle that probably wasn’t there. 

A memory pops into Akaashi’s head and he has to actively try and repress a smile. This situation was too damn familiar for him to keep a straight face. Sakusa catches him in the act and makes a confused face.

Regaining his composure, Akaashi manages to say, “I would offer you mine but the last time I did, I was called gross. So..”

He doesn’t realise how he managed to muster the courage to say something like that. He had just tried to tease Sakusa and by looking at his face, Akaashi can tell he has succeeded. Sakusa’s face turns a deep shade of pink, clearly mortified that Akaashi still remembers. 

Akaashi isn’t the type of person who would usually make fun of people he barely knew. Although he may have intended for it to be a joke, Sakusa was still a stranger. Suddenly he feels guilty about how petty that must’ve sounded. He straightens his expression again, “I’m sorry, I should not have mentioned that. I didn’t mean to offend of you-” 

Sakusa’s eyes widen, “No that’s...fine.” 

“I should go,” Akaashi says hastily, afraid that staying any longer might just make it worse.

“Actually,” Sakusa stops him. “Do you mind showing me where the dorms are, I’m not too familiar with the directions to get there just yet.” 

Akaashi couldn’t refuse now, it had gotten a lot darker than when they had arrived. Akaashi does not mind, it is a wonder that Sakusa still somehow tolerates being around him for longer than necessary.

-

Sakusa idly fidgets with his fingers as he waits for Akaashi to lock up the gym room. Tonight is the first time since Sakusa has seen Akaashi in a year. When news arrived a week ago about the practice matches being held with some of the schools of Tokyo, Sakusa didn’t care much for it. He did remember a handful of the players he had met at Nationals but staying busy with school and his own training kept him distracted enough.

He hadn’t thought of Akaashi in months, the whole ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing worked out perfectly for Sakusa. Which is why nothing had prepared him for the moment when _that_ particular setter had walked in. 

Being in the same room as Akaashi for over an hour made Sakusa a little jittery and not in the way he usually feels when he watches his teammates throw their sweaty jerseys at each other for “fun” in their locker rooms. This was nothing like that. This was...somehow better and worse in its own way. 

Sakusa is confident in his abilities as an ace and is slowly working on proving to become the captain that his team deserves. There was no need for him to be so self aware but when Akaashi sat behind him, and yet he felt the weight of a million eyes on him. Was he intimidated? He didn’t think so, then what else could it be? Either way it made him nervous and one of the ways to remedy that was if Akaashi was playing as well, hence leading to his request to get the setter to toss for him.

The night’s cool breeze greets them as they begin to walk. For a few moments, the only sound that can be heard are from the crickets chirping into the night. Sakusa feels like he should say something, there was already enough tension between the two, this may help to ease it up a little.

“Do you practice during the night often?” It was the best thing he could think of before it got too late.

Akaashi nods, “Yeah, it’s become a habit now. It’s quite peaceful when no one is around.” 

Sakusa can fully relate to that. “What about you?” Akaashi asks in turn.

“I like that there are fewer people in the nights too, feels...cleaner.”

Akaashi looks at Sakusa, “Cleaner? Why would you feel- oh, right.” Akaashi says simply as if he recalled something about the boy walking beside him.

Sakusa’s face starts to heat up, maybe he shouldn’t have told him that. Akaashi is probably going to think Sakusa was snobbish, just like everyone else did. He waits for the mocking tone and gets ready to defend himself. 

It never comes. 

“I understand,” is all Akaashi says with a small smile on his lips. There is no judgement in his voice at all. Sakusa feels the mood of the conversation heading towards something he isn’t prepared for and his instinct is to immediately deviate from the topic.

“You’re the captain for your team now, aren’t you?” Akaashi nods in response to Sakusa’s question. “How’s that going?” Sakusa asks.

“It’s going well but it’s quite challenging sometimes. The new members are still trying to adapt better into the team. I just hope I can help them enough.”

“A new team can be difficult to deal with, are you nervous about them?”

“No, not really. They’re very hard working like that, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” 

“Do you think you’ll be able to make it to Nationals again with them?” 

“If we keep at it, I believe that we will.” Akaashi trusts his team, probably more than he does himself and why shouldn’t he? They were getting stronger by the day, his veins thrum with pride as he thinks of them. 

“It’s interesting that you’re not worried about them,” Sakusa casually but there’s a hint of superiority in it. 

A small frown forms on Akaashi’s forehead, “Why is that? Are you worried about yours?”

Sakusa shakes his head, “Oh no, not at all. It’s just that I’ve heard that for this year, your team might not be as strong as it was.” 

Anyone would have scoffed hearing the blunt remark but Akaashi’s expression remains calm. “I can say the same about yours, Sakusa-san,” Akaashi smiles a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Perhaps. But we’re constantly getting better. We still have a lot of the same members that we went to Nationals with, you know.” Akaashi doesn’t know if Sakusa is trying to get under his skin or if there’s an alternate motive to it. Either way, the air feels lighter around them, more comfortable now as the layers of awkwardness they were in slowly start to peel off and are replaced with something familiar, something comfortable. 

As rivals, this was only expected. Every team tried to rile the other up constantly. Akaashi had dealt with far worse with Kuroo and Bokuto bickering for hours last year. 

“I guess that’s where supporting your team the best you can comes in, to help guide them better. Aren’t you the captain for your team this year, Sakusa-san? I’m sure you know what I mean,” Akaashi’s smile widens. 

He isn’t the type to boast about himself at all, in fact he’s well aware of how self critical he can be but the one thing Akaashi is confident in is that no one knows his team the way he does. 

Playing for Fukurodani as vice captain last year had given him a lot of insight on how important it was to be able to read and motivate your team, to be able to bring out the best in them. Akaashi would never admit it but he's good at that. It didn't need to be said that when it came to leadership, Fukurodani definitely had a greater advantage and Sakusa knows this too. He knows that he barely has half the experience that Akaashi does when it comes to being captain.

Now it is Sakusa's return the smile, Akaashi is clearly enjoying this too.  
"We’ll win this time, you know.” Sakusa declares coolly.

“You seem pretty confident, Sakusa-san. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Akaashi challenges. “Fukurodani looks forward to playing with your team again."

"We do too.” 

They reach the dorms, wishing Sakusa a good night Akaashi is about to leave but turns around to ask, “Sakusa-san, are you going to be practicing there tomorrow too?”

“Yes, probably." _Was he not allowed to?_ "Is there a problem?” he questions.

“No nothing of that sort, it’s just that I didn’t mean to walk in on you today and since you’re using that room, I’ll just use another gym.”

“Oh…..you don’t have to do that. I didn’t have a problem tonight since you were the only other person there. As long as there aren’t too many people…” Sakusa’s voice turns low towards the end of that sentence.

“No, just me.”

“Then, I don’t have an issue.”

Akaashi nods, his lips slightly curving upwards, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then, Sakusa-san.” 

Sakusa enters the dorm and breathes out a sigh, an emotion that he can’t place yet settles in his chest. The feeling only intensifies when he thinks of the next day and he finds himself annoyed at the fact that time isn’t moving as fast as he would like.

The following day, Akaashi meets Sakusa a lot earlier than they had scheduled the night before. He sees him on the court, on the other side of the net. He wears a satisfied look on his face. Which isn't surprising since they just won a game against Fukurodani.

Sakusa was right after all, Itachiyama did end up winning. Akaashi wonders if Sakusa was going to tease him about it by rubbing it in his face later. The thought makes Akaashi shake his head. Sakusa wasn’t like that, Akaashi thinks. He seems like the person who was probably too mature to make those kinds of remarks anyway. 

The referee calls the two captains forward to thank each other for the game. When Akaashi’s eyes meet Sakusa’s he finds him already looking at him with a- _is that a smirk?_

“Good game,” Akaashi acknowledges.

Sakusa nods, “Didn’t seem like your team was trying all that hard though. I'd be worried if I were you,” he says smugly. The comment makes Akaashi grin as he thinks of their little exchange from the night before. Akaashi rethinks the whole ‘too mature’ assumption that he had made up for the other boy. 

Their game had been a close call, either one of the teams could have won and it just happened to be Itachiyama. Even though Fukurodani had lost, Akaashi can see that his team had kept their opponents on their toes throughout the match. Sakusa standing before him with drops of sweat running down his face and his irregular, heavy breathing is enough proof of that. 

“We were just holding back today. Next time we might not go as easy on you.” 

“Is that so?” Sakusa raises an eyebrow. 

“Captain!” A voice calls from behind Sakusa, it was one of his team members calling him to assemble. Akaashi notices that they still haven't shaken hands yet. Instead of reaching his hand out to Sakusa, Akaashi takes a step back and bows at the other captain. Sakusa is quick to mimic the same, relieved. He always hated that tradition, he didn’t want to touch another person’s sweaty palms no matter what the situation.

Did Akaashi know that and bow on purpose or had that just been a coincidence? 

-x-

“Sorry this gym is taken, please use the other one,” Akaashi imitates Sakusa as he hears the latter walk in. 

“Very funny,” Sakusa says sarcastically, “Besides I was the one who came in first last night but I'll let you stay.”

“True, but I came in first today and you’re late. First come first served.” 

“Too bad. I’m not leaving,” Sakusa states.

Sakusa looks at Akaashi who opens his mouth to retaliate but he closes it almost immediately, as if he is holding himself back. Sakusa wonders what he has to say but doesn’t question it. 

“Since I’m letting you stay, I think it's only fair that you toss to me again.” 

Akaashi stops dribbling the ball and cocks an eyebrow at Sakusa, “Are you sure that my tosses will be good enough for you? Because you didn’t think so this afternoon,” he teases.

“I don’t remember saying anything like that,” Sakusa lies. “And even if I did, I’m sure I just meant for the rest of your team, not you per se. You’re…fine.” Sakusa has to look away when that last word leaves his mouth. 

He has found himself being in awe of how good of a player Akaashi is but if only he had the right words and the courage to admit that. Even that lame “fine” feels like too much and every instinct in his body tells him to say something else to offset that "compliment". 

“You've set for one of the top five aces of the nation haven't you? I’m sure you’re good enough to set for a better one.” 

Sakusa mentally slaps himself, what made him say _that?_ Akaashi was going to think of him as a cocky bastard. He’s too nervous to look at Akaashi’s expression now, afraid of finding varying degrees of disgust written all over them. After all, no one liked arrogance.

He only hears a soft giggle, he turns towards the source of the sound and that feeling in his chest that he had noticed last night returns and this time it’s almost like it’s bubbling. As disturbing as it sounds in his Sakusa’s head, it’s actually one of the most pleasant feelings he has probably experienced. 

“I hope I don’t disappoint then.” Akaashi says with a glint in his eyes, the way the rays of the sun shine on the ocean. Sakusa doubts Akaashi ever could, even if he tried his very best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long to update!
> 
> pls leave kudos and comments if you liked it (it really does act like the best source of motivation)
> 
> see you in the next chapter <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos or comments if you liked it, I will try my best to update and complete this as soon as possible, please bear with me (i am lazy).
> 
> come talk to me on twitter @lessgeddit


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